SRX Rocker cover question

[leah]

I have a partially rebuilt project SRX600 & enjoying the challenge of putting together the pieces of the jigsaw. There are afew things I can't figure out by myself though & the latest is the apparent lack of gasket or any seal at the rocker cover joint. As I've said before I'm a 2 stroke nut & know nothing about 4 strokes really, but I've never encountered a metal to metal joint, where there will be oil, without some form of seal 

There aren't gaskets available for this joint but do i put some Yam 3bond on or Hylomar or something?

I'm getting to the stage of needing to eyeball a standard twin shock 600 to see what I'm meant to end up with - something will catch me out otherwise! Will be scanning for meets that may feature an SRX in the near future 

[andy230]

hello

No, its fine, no gasket, just make sure the metal-metal faces are good and clean.

I have used blue hylomar previously, then latterly Yamabond (grey stuff, very good, very dear, and TBH, hylomar didn't leak), but I bought the Yamabond (3bond) for the racer (from Rex Caunt- google him if you need some).

Make sure the cam journals are very very clean and lubed too before tying down the cover.

Cheers!

a

[leah]

er, cam journals? what are they??? i'm a bit worried that the assembly not clean enough as the bike's been standing with the rocker cover off & there's some surface rust on the cam lobes & valve spring things. I put some oil on there but should I clean the rust right off?
Is there any way I can tell that the cam chain timing is properly set up without splitting the cases? The bike came with the top end rebuilt & cam chain installed but I think I'd better check it's all timed up OK  Sorry for the dippy questions, could do with a comprehensive manual really...

[guest27]

Hi Leah

Sure someone with the detail knowledge will be along soon.

Journals - the bearings, usually called journals when they are plain bearings - that is the cam does not have nifty little roller or ball bearings to support it and let it spin under control, but runs metal to metal - not as bad as it sounds as a good pressure of oil actually mns that the cam spins on a film of oil. The metal of the cam where it bears on another part - so the lobes and the journals, need to be free from rust, the rust will come off and at least make the oil dirty, carrying some abrasive rust with it.  At worse the rust, which is of a greater diameter than the good metal from whence it came, will take up the clearance between te cam and the face it runs in and can cause it to 'pick up' when small amounts of the bearing face get welded by friction to the cam and can wreak havoc.  Give it a light rub back and clean it up a bit.  If you use W&D paper or the like you will need to lift the cam out so you can wash the abrasive off - not wanted in the engine, buut often surface rust like this wil polish off with a rag and some oil and elbow grease.

should be able o check the cam chain timing, but not being an owner I would not know the detail.

All the best

R

[Steve H]

To check the cam timing timing, when the piston is a TDC the lines on camshaft sprocket should be parallel with the rocker box -> head sealing surface. There are marls on the flywheel for TDC, remove the smaller (top) of te inspection windows on the alternator cover, or remove the spark plug, use a torch light to rough gauge TDC then use something suitably long and non-metallic down the plug-hole to get the final positioning. I've no doubt my second approach will upset a few but it works for me. 

[Steve Lake]

I'm with steveH on that one, I use a long pencil (not a short one, a short one may disappear down the hole! )....rust?....depends if its just a  sort of mist surface rust or you have pitting into the metal, but a good cleanup is needed, you dont want foreign bodies floating about the engine.

[leah]

Many thanks for the great advice guys, I'll be cleaning the rust off carefully now and then making sure it's all timed up properly. Does anyone have any detailed photos or drawings of this area of the engine? I have a box of bits, some of which may be the engine stay assembly that in my manual's diagram is but a small blurry blob. I'm also not clear on where the decompression cable has it's fixed point - does it clamp to the rocker cover? And when I put the clutch cover on, is there a specific way of correctly positioning the decompression lever cam so the kickstart operates it? More dumb questions I know...

[guest27]

Years ago I worked for Cable and Wireless, one of our directors was asked a 'dumb' question in in a Q&A.  His response was that there was no such thing as a dumb question, either you know the answer or you dont.  He said that most of us were too scared to ask a question thought to be dumb, and ten asked how many of us who had worked for the company for more than a year knew what ISDN stood for.  Too many of us shuffled about not knowing.  We were the dumb ones, there was a concept of common currency in the business and we had been too dumb to ask.

Never worrk about asking questions, if anyone is so rude as to get at you, well it is their problem, not yours.

Strangely I asked a question about the wiring of points and got no answers, maybe I was deemed to be too dumb to answer, maybe no one else knew?

No answer to the question BTW

R

[Steve H]

The de-comp cable is retained by a bracket shown here

[leah]

Many many thanks, Rog for the words of wisdom & SeveH for the drawing. My manual is nowhere near as clear- where can I get a copy of this one?

Leah

[Steve H]

Its the parts list on www.srx600.net

[leah]

Oh yes!! A wealth of info! How did I miss that? Now I see all the bits I'm missing & part nos too
  Happy days  thanks Steve